Oh no! I forgot to pull it out!

Does your recipe call for room temperature ingredients, such as eggs, butter, or milk, but you forgot to pull them out ahead of time?  Don't worry, I'll show you how to remedy the situation.

It's important to have your ingredients at the proper temperature for your recipe.  If they're too cold or too warm, they can cause all kinds of difficulties for you. 

Milk is easy.  You can just put it in the microwave to bring it to room temperature.  Be careful not to heat it too much and stir often.  Also, if your recipe calls for milk and water, you can just add hot water to the milk. 

For butter (or cream cheese), you don't want to use the microwave, because it will end up at least partially melting.  Instead, take the whole stick, in its wrapper, and place it into a bowl of warm water.  Think like cool bath water.  Leave the stick for 10 minutes, and it should be perfectly softened. 

And last but not least, the eggs.  Place your eggs into hot water for 5 minutes.  Not hot enough to burn you, but quite warm to the touch. 

     

It's impossible to plan ahead all the time.  Hopefully these tips will help when you decide you want to make cupcakes, right this instant, but all your ingredients are in the fridge. 

Eggnog Cinnamon Swirl Scones! Mmmm...

Eggnog is, without a doubt, one of my favorite things about this time of year.  Sweet, spicy, creamy… I just love the stuff.  The fact that you can’t get it the rest of the year just makes me look forward to it even more.  So, now that eggnog season is in full swing, I plan to take full advantage.  First up, eggnog cinnamon swirl scones.  Growing up in Utah, scones were big pieces of fried dough served with honey butter.  So for my friends and family from there, let me explain that these are not those.  To the rest of the world, scones are much more like biscuits.  (Don’t even get me started on the whole British biscuits are cookies thing.)  Anyway, no more time wasted discussing the name, let’s get started. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 ¾ cups flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon  baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 egg
¾ cups eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

For the icing:

¼ cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon eggnog

The first thing you need to do is cut your cold butter into little cubes.

Next comes the flour.  Now, I tend to have the Food Network on for background noise quite a bit, and so often I see whoever is on measuring flour all wrong.  It drives me nuts.  I mean, how did they get through culinary school not know how to do such a simple thing?  So, that being said, I’m going to show you the proper way to do it, just in case you’ve been corrupted by the tv chefs.  Fluff your flour a bit, and then spoon it into your measuring cup. 

Scooping with the measuring cup packs it in and makes the measurement inaccurate.  So, once you have it mounded nicely, take the back of a butter knife, or whatever you have that’s straight, and scrape off the excess.  (obviously you want to do this over your flour container rather than the bar, but with only two hands, some pictures are impossible) 

See?  One nicely measured cup of flour. 

So, once you’ve got your flour measured, whisk it together with the sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg, and throw the butter cubes in.

Mix until moist, crumbly looking. 

Measure your eggnog, then add the egg and vanilla.  Use a really good eggnog, it makes a huge difference in the end result.  You want one that is very thick and creamy and with a high fat content.

Mix well, and pour over the dry ingredients.

Mix the ingredients just until they come together. 

It’ll look like a bit of a mess, but don’t worry.  Just scrape it all out onto a floured surface. 

Flatten it out just a bit and sprinkle over a tablespoon of cinnamon.  Yes, I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me on this one.  Oh, and get some fresh cinnamon.  If you have a place that sells it in bulk, that's a good way to go.  You can smell how fresh it is, and also only buy how much you need. 

Knead the dough a few times just to create a swirled effect. 

Isn’t that cool?  Ok, now divide the dough in half and roll it into 2 circles.  They  should be 6 or 7 inches across and about ¾ of an inch thick. 

See, swirly!  Sorry, it doesn’t take much to make me happy when dealing with eggnog and cinnamon.  Using a pizza wheel, or a large knife if you prefer, cut the dough into 6 wedges. 

Transfer all 12 pieces to a parchment lined sheet pan or cookie sheet, spreading them apart just slightly. 

Now, place the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes.  After 15 minutes, turn your oven on to 400°.  I know some ovens say they only take like 5 minutes to preheat, but trust me, it’ll cook a lot more evenly if you give it more time.  So, after the 30 minutes is up, pull the scones out.  I chose to freeze half of mine for later.  If you want to do that, throw them into a ziplock bag and back into the freezer.

When you’re ready to eat them, just pull them out and follow the instructions from this point, adding a few extra minutes to the cooking time if necessary.  Brush the scones with a little bit of eggnog. 

It won’t take much to get a nice coating. 

I know they don’t look terribly fabulous yet, but put them into the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, and look what happens. 

The oven is seriously a miracle machine.  They should be nice and brown, and when you pull them apart they should be moist cake like. 

If they are doughy, they need a few more minutes.  Otherwise, move them to a cooling rack to cool for a few minutes while you make the glaze… icing?  Whatever you want to call it.  If you’re having them for breakfast, we’ll call it glaze.  If they’re for dessert, we’ll make it sound more indulgent and call it icing.  Either way, measure out ¼ cup of powdered sugar and add 1 tablespoon of eggnog. 

Stir until it’s smooth and looks drizzle-able. 

I like to put the scones back onto the parchment to drizzle it on. 

Serve with your favorite coffee or a glass of milk.

Crispy on the outside.  Warm and soft on the inside, with cinnamon that changes in intensity with every bite.   The eggnog flavor is somewhat subtle, but it’s there.  And then there’s the icing that follows when you lick it off your lips.  Ok, I seem to have a bit of an infatuation with these.  You can of course just pick it up and bite it, but I prefer to use a fork.  Icing makes for sticky fingers. 

See the cinnamon swirling through there?  Nice. 

What’s your favorite holiday treat?